Boston's most famous library descends into chaos as a man does drugs on the Dartmouth steps and another hurls a water bottle at library staff

BACK BAY — A man doing drugs on the Dartmouth Street steps of the Boston Public Library's flagship Copley Square branch. Another man hurling a water bottle at library staff who tried to tell him the library was closing. Boston Police on scene to take the report.

All of it Sunday afternoon. All of it at one of Boston's most photographed civic landmarks.

The account came from a witness posting on X under the handle @StacoS at around 5 p.m. on Sunday — the Copley Branch's standard closing hour. The post:

The account runs a real-time police-scanner feed covering Boston city-wide and is widely treated as a reliable live source by readers who follow it on X.

Boylston Street encampment outside Boston Public Library Copley — The Boylston Street side of the Boston Public Library Copley, where belongings and gear pile up on the sidewalk against the windows of the McKim Building. *Photo: @backbaysos on Instagram.*

“The safest major city in America”

Mayor Michelle Wu has repeatedly called Boston “the safest major city in America” — most recently on her own X account. Her loyal Council rubber stamp, District 8 Councilor Sharon Durkan, has been right behind her.

Durkan's district covers Copley Square, the Back Bay, and the McKim Building itself.

Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston City Councilor Sharon Durkan — Mayor Michelle Wu (left) at a podium last year and District 8 City Councilor Sharon Durkan (right) at a council session. Durkan's district covers Copley Square and the McKim Building.

The wider pattern

This is not isolated.

A separate Instagram account, Back Bay SOS (@backbaysos), has been chronicling the same neighborhood for months — building a steady visual record of the encampments, drug paraphernalia, and street disorder around Copley Square. The photos above and below are from that archive.

Mass Daily News reported in April that Back Bay residents have been documenting needles found inside the lobbies of luxury apartment buildings and inside the public library itself.

We also reported on the Copley Square plaza — empty storefronts, trash, and discarded needles, all within a stone's throw of the McKim Building's front entrance.

A person sleeping on a Copley Square bench with belongings — Copley Square plaza on a recent morning — a sleeping figure under a blue blanket, gear piled on the bench beside, Trinity Church visible in the background. *Photo: @backbaysos on Instagram.*

Boston's most famous library descends into chaos as a man does drugs on the Dartmouth steps and another hurls a water bottle at library staff

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“The safest major city in America”

The wider pattern